Electronic device for performing ranging by using ultra wide band communication and operating method thereof

ABSTRACT

An electronic device, which performs ranging by using ultra wide band (UWB) communication, and an operating method of the electronic device, is provided. The operating method includes a first electronic device performing operations including transmitting a ranging control message including block striding information to a second electronic device, determining whether to perform hopping based on a result of transmitting the ranging control message, determining a hopping round value based on a result of determining whether to perform the hopping and the block striding information, and performing ranging with the second electronic device based on the block striding information and the hopping round value.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation application of prior application Ser.No. 17/166,519, filed on Feb. 3, 2021, which is based on and claimspriority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Korean patent application number10-2020-0015008, filed on Feb. 7, 2020, in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The disclosure relates to an electronic device for performing ranging byusing an ultra wide band (UWB) communication scheme and an operatingmethod of the electronic device.

2. Description of Related Art

The Internet has evolved from a human-centered connection network,through which a human generates and consumes information, to an Internetof Things (IoT) network that receives, transmits, and processesinformation between distributed elements such as objects. Internet ofEverything (IoE) technology is emerging, in which a technology relatedto the IoT is combined with, for example, a technology for processingbig data through connection with a cloud server. In order to implementthe IoT, various technical components are required, such as sensingtechniques, wired/wireless communication and network infrastructures,service interface techniques, security techniques, etc. In recent years,techniques including a sensor network for connecting objects,Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, Machine Type Communication(MTC), etc., have been studied.

In the IoT environment, intelligent Internet Technology services may beprovided to collect and interpret data obtained from objects connectedto each other, and to create new value in human life. As existinginformation technology (IT) and various industries converge and combinewith each other, the IoT may be applied to various fields, such as smarthomes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart cars or connected cars,smart grids, health care, smart home appliances, high quality medicalservices, etc.

As it is possible to provide various services according to thedevelopment of wireless communication systems, there is a need for amethod of efficiently providing these services. For example, in mediumaccess control (MAC), a ranging technique that measures distancesbetween electronic devices by using ultra wide band (UWB) may be used.UWB is a wireless communication technology that uses a very widefrequency band of several GHz or more in a baseband, instead of using aradio carrier.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the disclosure. No determination hasbeen made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the disclosure.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the disclosure are to address at least the above-mentionedproblems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantagesdescribed below. Accordingly, an aspect of the disclosure is to providean electronic device for performing ranging with at least one electronicdevice by using an ultra wide band (UWB) communication scheme, and amethod of recovering from a ranging failure more quickly and adjusting aranging period differently for each device.

Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description whichfollows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may belearned by practice of the presented embodiments.

In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, an operating method of afirst electronic device for performing ranging by using ultra wide band(UWB) communication, is provided. The operating method includestransmitting a ranging control message (RCM) including block stridinginformation to a second electronic device, determining whether toperform hopping based on a result of transmitting the ranging controlmessage, determining a hopping round value based on a result ofdetermining whether to perform the hopping and the block stridinginformation, and performing ranging with the second electronic devicebased on the block striding information and the hopping round value.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, an operating methodof a second electronic device for performing ranging by using UWBcommunication, is provided. The operating method includes determiningwhether to perform hopping based on a result of receiving a firstranging control message from a first electronic device, determining ahopping round value based on a result of determining whether to performthe hopping, receiving a second ranging control message from the firstelectronic device based on the hopping round value, and performingranging with the first electronic device based on block stridinginformation included in the second ranging control message.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, a first electronicdevice for performing ranging by using UWB communication, is provided.The first electronic device includes a communicator, a memory, and atleast one processor configured to execute a program stored in the memoryto control an operation of the first electronic device to transmit aranging control message including block striding information to a secondelectronic device through the communicator, determine whether to performhopping based on a result of transmitting the ranging control message,determine a hopping round value based on a result of determining whetherto perform the hopping and the block striding information, and performranging with the second electronic device based on the block stridinginformation and the hopping round value.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, a second electronicdevice for performing ranging by using UWB communication, is provided.The second electronic device includes a communicator, a memory, and atleast one processor configured to execute a program stored in the memoryto control an operation of the second electronic device to determinewhether to perform hopping based on a result of receiving a firstranging control message from a first electronic device, determine ahopping round value based on a result of determining whether to performthe hopping, receive a second ranging control message from the firstelectronic device through the communicator based on the hopping roundvalue, and perform ranging with the first electronic device based onblock striding information included in the second ranging controlmessage.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the disclosure will be more apparent from the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a diagram for describing a general Device-to-Device (D2D)communication procedure according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a communication process of a pluralityof electronic devices according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of single-sided two-way ranging (SS-TWR)using a ranging control frame according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a ranging block structure according to an embodimentof the disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a timing diagram for a block base mode according toan embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing hopping in ranging according to anembodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a diagram for describing a case in which hopping rounds do notmatch when a block duration is adjusted according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a diagram for describing a method of adjusting a rangingperiod through block striding according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 9 is a diagram for describing a method of performing hopping whentransmitting of a ranging control message including block stridinginformation has failed according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates a structure of a payload information element (IE)including block striding information according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates a structure of a payload IE including block stridinginformation according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of an operating method of a firstelectronic device that performs ranging by using an ultra wide band(UWB) communication according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 13 illustrates a flowchart of an operating method of a secondelectronic device that performs ranging by using a UWB communicationaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 14 illustrates a signal flow diagram of a method of performingranging between a controller and a controlee according to an embodimentof the disclosure;

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a structure of a medium access control(MAC) frame according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 16 illustrates parameters included in a header IE and a payload IEaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 17 illustrates a frame control field of an MAC frame according toan embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 18 illustrates an auxiliary security header field of an MAC frameaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 19 illustrates a block diagram of a controller according to anembodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 20 illustrates a block diagram of a controlee according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood torefer to like parts, components, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of variousembodiments of the disclosure as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modifications of the various embodiments describedherein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of thedisclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions andconstructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of thedisclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of various embodiments of thedisclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for thepurpose of limiting the disclosure as defined by the appended claims andtheir equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

Throughout the disclosure, the expression “at least one of a, b or c”indicates only a, only b, only c, both a and b, both a and c, both b andc, all of a, b, and c, or variations thereof.

Examples of a terminal may include a user equipment (UE), a mobilestation (MS), a cellular phone, a smartphone, a computer, a multimediasystem capable of performing a communication function, or the like.

In the disclosure, a controller may also be referred to as a processor.

Throughout the specification, a layer (or a layer apparatus) may also bereferred to as an entity.

Also, it will be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elementsshould not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used todistinguish one component from another.

Also, the terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particularembodiments of the disclosure and are not intended to limit the scope ofthe disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the contextclearly indicates otherwise. Also, it will be understood that when aregion is referred to as being “connected to” or “coupled to” anotherregion, it may be “directly connected or coupled to” the other region or“electrically connected to” the other region. It will be understood thatterms such as “comprise,” “include,” and “have,” when used herein,specify the presence of stated elements, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other elements.

The use of the term “the” and a similar definite term in thespecification is to be construed to cover both the singular and theplural. Also, operations of all methods described herein may beperformed in any suitable order unless otherwise clearly indicatedherein. The disclosure is not limited to the order of the describedoperations.

The phrase “in an embodiment of the disclosure” appearing in variousplaces in the specification does not necessarily refer to the sameembodiment of the disclosure.

An embodiment of the disclosure may be represented by functional blockconfigurations and various processing operations. All or part of suchfunctional blocks may be implemented by any number of hardware and/orsoftware components configured to perform particular functions. Forexample, the functional blocks of the disclosure may be implemented asone or more microprocessors or may be implemented as circuitconfigurations for certain functions. Also, for example, the functionalblocks of the disclosure may be implemented with various programming orscripting languages. The functional blocks may be implemented asalgorithms that are executed on one or more processors. Also, thedisclosure may employ any techniques for electronic environmentconfiguration, signal processing, and/or data processing.

Also, the connecting lines or connecting members illustrated in thedrawings are intended to represent functional connections and physicalor logical connections between elements. In a real device, connectionsbetween elements may be represented by various functional connections,physical connections, or circuit connections that are replaceable oradded.

In general, wireless sensor network technologies are largely classifiedinto wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies and wirelesspersonal area network (WPAN) technologies according to recognitiondistance. WLAN is a technology based on IEEE 802.11 and is a technologythat allows a connection to a backbone network within a radius of about100 m. WPAN is a technology based on IEEE 802.15 and includes Bluetooth,ZigBee, and ultra wide band (UWB). A wireless network in which such awireless network technology is implemented may include a plurality ofcommunication electronic devices. The communication electronic devicesperform communication in an active period by using a single channel.That is, the communication electronic devices may collect packets andtransmit the collected packets in the active period.

UWB may refer to a short-range high-speed wireless communicationtechnology using a wide frequency band of several GHz or more in abaseband state, a low spectral density, and a short pulse width (1-4nsec). UWB may refer to the band itself to which UWB communication isapplied. Hereinafter, a method of ranging between electronic deviceswill be described based on a UWB communication scheme, but this is onlyan example. In practice, various wireless communication technologies maybe used.

Electronic devices according to embodiments of the disclosure mayinclude a fixed terminal or a mobile terminal implemented as a computerdevice and may communicate with other devices and/or servers by using awireless or wired communication scheme. For example, the electronicdevices may include smart phones, mobile terminals, laptop computers,digital broadcasting terminals, personal digital assistants (PDAs),portable multimedia players (PMPs), navigations, slate personalcomputers (PCs), tablet PCs, desktop computers, digital televisions(TVs), refrigerators, artificial intelligence speakers, wearabledevices, projectors, smart keys, smart cars, printers, etc., but are notlimited to these examples.

Hereinafter, the disclosure will be described in detail with referenceto the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for describing a general Device-to-Device (D2D)communication procedure according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

D2D communication refers to a communication scheme in which electronicdevices located geographically close to each other directly communicatewith each other, without passing through infrastructures such as basestations.

Referring to FIG. 1 , electronic devices may perform one-to-onecommunication, one-to-many communication, or many-to-many communication.D2D communication may use an unlicensed frequency band such as Wi-FiDirect and Bluetooth. Alternatively, D2D communication may improve thefrequency utilization efficiency of a cellular system by using alicensed frequency band. D2D communication may be used restrictively asa term referring to Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, but D2Dcommunication in the disclosure may include not only communicationbetween simple electronic devices each having a communication functionbut also communication between various types of electronic devices eachhaving a communication function, such as smart phones or PCs.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a communication process of a pluralityof electronic devices according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

A first electronic device 201 and a second electronic device 202 mayperform communication through a device search process 203, a linkgeneration process 204, and a data communication process 205.

In the device search process 203, the first electronic device 201 andthe second electronic device 202 may each search for other electronicdevices capable of performing D2D communication among electronic deviceslocated around the first electronic device 201 and the second electronicdevice 202. In this manner, the first electronic device 201 and thesecond electronic device 202 may each determine whether to generate alink for D2D communication. For example, the first electronic device 201may transmit a search signal to allow the second electronic device 202to search for the first electronic device 201. Also, the firstelectronic device 201 may receive a search signal transmitted by thesecond electronic device 202 and confirm that other electronic devicescapable of performing D2D communication are within a D2D communicationrange.

In the link generation process 204, the first electronic device 201 andthe second electronic device 202 may each generate a link for datatransmission with an electronic device to transmit data among electronicdevices found in the device search process 203. For example, the firstelectronic device 201 may generate a link for data transmission with thesecond electronic device 202 found in the device search process 203.

In the data communication process 205, the first electronic device 201and the second electronic device 202 may each transmit and receive datato and from the devices that generate the link in the link generationprocess 204. For example, the first electronic device 201 may transmitand receive data to and from the second electronic device 202 throughthe link generated in the link generation process 204.

Various embodiments of the disclosure relate to medium access control(MAC) based on the D2D communication described above, and it isnecessary to measure distances between electronic devices for the MAC. AUWB ranging technique may be used to measure the distances between theelectronic devices. For example, when a digital key stored in a smartphone is used to open or close a vehicle door, a vehicle may measure adistance between the smart phone and the vehicle by using a plurality ofUWB communication modules (e.g., six UWB communication modules) andestimate the location of the smart phone based on a result of themeasuring. When the distance between the vehicle and the smart phone iswithin a certain distance, the vehicle may automatically open thevehicle door, thereby increasing user convenience. The vehicle and thesmart phone may use multicast ranging or broadcast ranging.

The electronic device according to the embodiment of the disclosure mayperform ranging by using a ranging control frame. Two device typesrelated to ranging control may be referred to as a “controller” or a“controlee.”

A controller 100 may be defined as a device that defines and controlsranging parameters by transmitting a ranging control frame together witha ranging control IE. The ranging control frame is used to set laneparameters used for ranging. In the disclosure, “ranging control frame”and “ranging control message” may be used as the same meaning.

A controlee 200 may be defined as a device that uses ranging parametersreceived from the controller. At least one controlee may be managed bythe controller. A method of determining the role of the device (e.g.,the role of the controller or the role of the controlee) and selectingranging parameters may be variously implemented.

Also, two device types for ranging control may be referred to as an“initiator” or a “responder.” The initiator is a device that startsranging by transmitting a poll. The responder is a device that respondsto the poll received from the initiator.

The controller according to the embodiment of the disclosure maydetermine devices participating in ranging and device types by using aranging Initiator/responder list (IRL) IE or a ranging scheduling (RS)IE. The IRL IE and the RS IE may be carried by the ranging controlframe. In scheduling-based ranging, the RS IE may be configured by thecontroller 100 so as to indicate resource management and the roles ofdevices (i.e., the role of the initiator or the responder). Incontention-based ranging, when the RS IE is not used, the IRL IE may beused to determine the roles of devices.

A schedule mode field of the ranging control IE indicates whether theranging frame is transmitted by using contention or is transmitted byusing a schedule. Devices that are not specified by these IEs are unableto participate in ranging. When transmission of a poll frame by a deviceis required, the device type of the corresponding device may bedetermined as an initiator, and a device responding to the poll framemay be determined as a responder.

In the case of contention-based multicast/broadcast ranging, when thecontroller is the only initiator in ranging and a destination addressfield in an MAC header of a ranging control frame designates theresponder, the controller may not add the IRL IE to the ranging controlframe.

Because the ranging control frame includes the IRL IE or the RS IE, thecontrolee may know whether to transmit the poll by receiving the rangingcontrol frame. When the device type of the controlee is designated asthe initiator in the IRL IE or the RS IE, the controlee may transmit thepoll frame. Both the controller and the controlee may become theinitiator or the responder.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of single-sided two-way ranging (SS-TWR)using a ranging control frame according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3 , flow diagram 301 illustrates that, when thecontroller 100 sets the controller 100 to transmit a poll frame, thecontroller 100 may become an initiator and transmit the poll frame. Incontrast, as illustrated in flow diagram 302 of FIG. 3 , when thecontroller 100 sets the controlee 200 to transmit a poll frame, thecontrolee 200 may become an initiator and transmit the poll frame.

Also, the ranging control frame may include a ranging acknowledgment IEindicating a ranging response type. A plurality of controlees may beused for multicast/broadcast/many-to-many (M2M) ranging.

The device according to the embodiment of the disclosure may performranging in units of ranging blocks.

The ranging block refers to a period for ranging. The ranging blockincludes a plurality of ranging rounds. The ranging round represents aperiod required to complete one complete range measurement cycle betweena pair of ranging devices participating in a ranging exchange. Theranging round includes a plurality of ranging slots. The ranging slotrepresents a period for transmitting one ranging frame.

FIG. 4 illustrates a ranging block structure according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4 , a ranging block 410 may include N ranging rounds421, 422, 423, 424, and 425. In the ranging block, a first ranging round421 may include M ranging slots 431, 432, 433, and 434.

According to various embodiments of the disclosure, two types of rangingmodes (e.g., an interval base mode and a block base mode) may be usedfor access control. The block base mode uses a strict time structure,but the interval base mode does not use a strict time structure. Thecontroller 100 may select one of the modes and specify the correspondingmode by using a time structure indicator of a ranging control IE.

The block base mode uses a ranging block structure that uses a timelineset at a certain period.

In the block base mode, the ranging block structure may be determinedbased on a ranging block duration field, a ranging round duration field,and a ranging slot duration field, which are included in informationabout ranging control. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, theinformation about the ranging control may be an advanced ranging controlIE.

When the device receives a ranging control message (RCM), the device mayset related timeline for ranging and the structure of the ranging blockby using the field values of the ranging control IE included in the RCM.Also, according to another embodiment of the disclosure, a ranging blockstructure may be set by a next upper layer.

The controller may repeatedly transmit the ranging block structurethrough all RCMs. When the ranging block structure needs to be changedor updated, the controller may transmit a ranging block update (RBU) IEincluding a field related to a ranging block update.

Also, an index value of each ranging round in the ranging block may beset to increase sequentially based on the first ranging round in theranging block. Referring to FIG. 4 , when the N ranging rounds 421, 422,423, 424, and 425 are included in the ranging block 410, the index valueof the first ranging round 421 of the ranging block 410 may be 0 and theindex value of the last ranging round of the ranging block 410 may beN−1.

Also, referring to FIGS. 4 and 5 , the index value of each ranging slotin the ranging round may be set to increase sequentially based on thefirst ranging slot in the ranging round. In this case, for example, whenthe M ranging slots 431, 432, 433, and 434 are included in the firstranging round 421, the index value of a first ranging slot 431 of thefirst ranging round 421 may be 0 and the index value of a last rangingslot 434 of the first ranging round 421 may be M−1.

FIG. 5 illustrates a timing diagram for a block base mode according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 5 , an index value of each ranging block may be set toincrease sequentially based on the first ranging block. In this case,for example, the index value of the first ranging block may be N−1 andthe index value of each ranging block may be set to increase by one.

FIG. 5 illustrates a plurality of ranging rounds included in a rangingblock N having an index value of N. Each ranging round may include aplurality of ranging slots. A ranging frame may be transmitted in theranging slot. Also, a transmission offset may be set to the rangingframe and the ranging frame may be transmitted in the ranging slot. Theranging frame refers to a frame transmitted and received between devicesso as to perform ranging. For example, the ranging frame may be a frameincluding a ranging marker that is information for defining a referencepoint of time.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing hopping in ranging according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

Hopping in UWB-based ranging may refer to an operation of, when it isnot appropriate to perform ranging in a ranging round being used amongdevices, performing ranging in another previously appointed ranginground. In this case, for example, each device may previously store ahopping sequence for performing hopping.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the ranging issuccessful in the ranging round being currently used in the currentranging block, electronic devices participating in ranging may performranging in the same ranging round even in the next ranging block. Forexample, when the electronic devices participating in the ranging areusing a ranging round m in a ranging block n, the ranging round m mayalso be used within a ranging block n+1. (In this case, n and m areintegers greater than or equal to zero.) However, when the ranging failsin the ranging round being currently used in the current ranging block,the controller 100 may determine to “hop” to another ranging round inthe next ranging block. That is, when the ranging fails in the ranginground being currently used, the electronic devices may perform rangingin a hopping round having a different index value within the nextranging block. For example, when the electronic devices participating inthe ranging are using a ranging round m in a ranging block n, a ranginground k (k is an integer greater than or equal to 0, k m) may be used ina ranging block n+1. The hopping sequence including the hopping rounddetermined for each block may be determined differently for eachsession.

Referring to FIG. 6 , in a ranging block N−1 611, the controller 100 andthe controlee 200 may perform ranging in a ranging round 0 631 having anindex value of 0. (In this case, N is a natural number.) The controller100 may determine that the ranging exchange is performed smoothly andmay transmit, to the controlee 200, an RCM in which the value of thehopping mode field is 0.

As illustrated in FIG. 6 , when the ranging between the controller 100and the controlee 200 is successful in the ranging round 0 631 of theranging block N−1 611, the controller 100 and the controlee 200 maycontinue to use the ranging round having the same index value in thenext ranging block. When the ranging is successful in the ranging round0 631 of the ranging block N−1 611, the controller 100 and the controlee200 may perform ranging by using the ranging round 0 632 in which theindex value is 0 even in a ranging block N 612.

However, when the ranging fails in the ranging round 0 631 of theranging block N−1 611, the controller 100 and the controlee 200 mayperform hopping in the next ranging block (i.e., the ranging block N612) and determine to perform ranging in another ranging round. When theranging fails in the ranging round 0 631 of the current ranging blockN−1 611, the controller 100 may perform ranging by hopping to theranging round 3 (i.e., hopping round 652) in which the index value is 3in the next ranging block (i.e., the ranging block N 612).

As illustrated in FIG. 6 , hopping rounds 651, 652, and 653 may bedetermined differently for each ranging. Therefore, the hopping roundmay refer to a ranging round corresponding to a hopping round valuedetermined based on the index value of the ranging block.

As illustrated in FIG. 6 , when the ranging between the controller 100and the controlee 200 is successful in the ranging round 0 631 of theranging block N−1 611, the controller 100 and the controlee 200 maycontinue to use the ranging round 0 632 having the same index value of 0even in the next ranging block (i.e., the ranging block N 612). In thiscase, the controller 100 may determine that the ranging exchange isperformed smoothly and may transmit, to the controlee 200, an RCM inwhich the value of the hopping mode field is 0.

However, as illustrated in FIG. 6 , when the ranging message is notcompletely transmitted in ranging round 0 632 of the ranging block N612, the controller 100 and the controlee 200 may perform hopping anddetermine to perform ranging in another ranging round. The controller100 may determine that the ranging exchange is not performed smoothlyand may transmit, to the controlee 200, an RCM in which the value of thehopping mode field is 1.

When the ranging fails in the ranging round 0 632 of the ranging block N612, the controller 100 and the controlee 200 may perform hopping in thenext ranging block (i.e., ranging block N+1 613) and determine toperform ranging in another ranging round. When the ranging fails in theranging round 0 632 of the current ranging block N 612, the controller100 may perform ranging by hopping to the ranging round 1 (i.e., hoppinground 653) in which the index value is 1 in the next ranging block(i.e., the ranging block N+1 613).

The controller 100 and the controlee 200 may determine a hopping roundamong a plurality of ranging rounds included in the ranging block N+1613. Determining the hopping round may mean changing an index value of aranging round, which is used for ranging among a plurality of rangingrounds included in the ranging block, from a first value being currentlyused to a second value.

As the ranging period between the electronic devices is shorter, morepower is consumed, but rapid ranging is possible. On the other hand, asthe ranging period between the electronic devices is longer, the timerequired for the ranging increases, but less power is consumed.Therefore, in order to select power saving and rapid ranging as needed,the ranging period between the electronic devices may be dynamicallychanged. However, the block base mode has the following difficulties indynamically adjusting the ranging period.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for describing the difficulty caused by themismatching of the hopping round when the block duration is changedaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7 , the controller 100 may change the block durationso as to dynamically change the ranging period and may transmit, to thecontrolee 200, a control message including information about the changedblock duration. When the controlee 200 changes the block duration basedon the received control message, the controller 100 and the controlee200 may continue to perform ranging based on the changed block duration.

However, when the controlee 200 fails to receive the control message, itis impossible to recover the ranging round matching even when thehopping is performed. When the controlee 200 fails to receive thecontrol message, the controller 100 operates based on the changedranging block duration, but the controlee 200 operates based on theexisting ranging block duration. Therefore, the controller 100 and thecontrolee 200 operate in units of ranging blocks having differentdurations and operate based on different number of at least one ofranging rounds and round durations. As the timing of the hopping roundis changed, it is expected that it will be impossible to recover fromthe failure to transmit and receive the RCM between the electronicdevices to the hopping mode or it will take a lot of time.

Also, in order to recover from the failure to transmit the RCM, a methodin which the controller 100 returns to the existing ranging blockduration and retransmits the RCM may be considered. However, the changedranging block duration may be restored to the existing ranging blockduration only when only one controlee (e.g., the controlee 200) isprovided. When the controller 100 changes the ranging block durationwhile performing ranging with a plurality of controlees, a method ofrestoring the existing ranging block duration may be considered for onlyone controlee that has failed to receive the RCM. However, when theranging block duration is restored, the ranging timing does not matchbetween the controller and the remaining controlees that succeed inreceiving the RCM and change the ranging block duration.

Therefore, the disclosure proposes a method of changing a ranging periodby using block striding so as to recover a ranging failure more quickly.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for describing a method of changing a ranging periodthrough block striding according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 8 , a time diagram 801 illustrates a case in which aranging period is changed by changing an existing block duration. Thecontroller 100 may perform ranging with the controlee 200 by using atleast one ranging round among a plurality of ranging rounds included ina ranging block 811. The controller 100 may determine that a blockduration change is required, transmit an RCM including block durationchange information to the controlee 200, and perform ranging with thecontrolee 200 by using at least one ranging round among a plurality ofranging rounds included in a ranging block 812 having a changed blockduration. The controller 100 may also perform ranging in a ranging block813 based on the changed block duration.

A time diagram 802 of FIG. 8 illustrates a case in which a rangingperiod is adjusted through block striding, according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure. The controller 100 may perform ranging with thecontrolee 200 by using at least one ranging round among a plurality ofranging rounds included in a ranging block 821. In the ranging block821, the controller 100 may transmit, to the controlee 200, an RCM forsetting a stride length to 0, without performing block striding. Becausethe block striding is not performed, the controller 100 may performranging in a ranging block 822 immediately after the ranging block 821.

In the ranging block 822, the controller 100 may determine that blockstriding is required, and transmit an RCM including block stride lengthinformation to the controlee 200. Referring to FIG. 8 , the controller100 may transmit, to the controlee 200, an RCM for setting a stridelength to 1. Because the block stride length is set to 1, the controller100 and the controlee 200 may skip one ranging block (e.g., rangingblock 823) and perform ranging in a next ranging block 824.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for describing a method of performing hopping whentransmitting of an RCM including block striding information has failedaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

The controller 100 may perform ranging with the controlee 200 by usingat least one ranging round among a plurality of ranging rounds includedin a ranging block 911. In a ranging block 912, the controller 100 maydetermine that block striding is required, and transmit an RCM includingblock stride length information to the controlee 200. For example, inthe ranging block 912 of FIG. 8 , the controller 100 may transmit, tothe controlee 200, an RCM for setting a stride length to 1.

Referring to FIG. 9 , the controlee 200 may fail to receive a controlmessage in the ranging block 912. In this case, the controlee 200 mayperform hopping and determine to perform ranging in another ranginground. Because the controlee 200 failed to receive the RCM requestingthe block striding in the ranging block 912, the controlee 200 may wakeup in ranging block 913 immediately after the ranging block 912 and waitfor the reception of the RCM. In this case, because the controlee 200failed to receive the ranging message in the ranging block 912, thecontrolee 200 may wake up in the hopping round of the ranging block 913and wait for the reception of the RCM. When the ranging is performedwith one controlee, the controller 100 according to an embodiment of thedisclosure fails to transmit the RCM requesting block striding in theranging block 912. Therefore, the controller 100 may not perform theblock striding, but may wake up in the ranging block 913 immediatelyafter the ranging block 912 and retransmit the RCM. However, when theranging is performed with a plurality of controlees, the controller 100according to an embodiment of the disclosure has to perform the blockstriding so as to match the ranging timing with the remaining controleesthat succeed in receiving the RCM even when some controlees fail toreceive the RCM. Therefore, the controller 100 according to anembodiment of the disclosure may determine whether all the controleescommunicating with the controller 100 fail to receive the RCM. When allthe controlees including the controlee 200 fail to receive the RCMincluding block stride length information, the controller 100 accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure may not perform block striding. Thecontroller 100 according to an embodiment of the disclosure may wake upin the hopping round of the very next ranging block and retransmit theRCM. On the other hand, when all the controlees do not fail to receivethe RCM (that is, when at least one controlee except for the controlee200 succeeds in receiving the RCM), the controller 100 according to anembodiment of the disclosure may need to perform the block striding.FIG. 9 illustrates a case in which the controlee 200 fails to receivethe RCM in the ranging block 912 and at least one controlee except forthe controlee 200 succeeds in receiving the RCM. Referring to the RCMtransmitted in the ranging block 912, because the controller 100 isconfigured to skip one ranging block (e.g., ranging block 913), thecontroller 100 does not perform a ranging operation, such as anoperation of transmitting an RCM, in the ranging block 913 (that is, thestriding of the ranging block 913 is performed). Therefore, because thecontroller 100 does not transmit the RCM in the ranging block 913, thecontrolee 200 also fails to receive the RCM in the ranging block 913 aswell as the ranging block 912.

When the controlee 200 fails to receive the control message in theranging block 913, the controlee 200 may perform hopping again anddetermine to perform ranging in another ranging round. The controlee 200may wake up in a ranging block 914 immediately after the ranging block913 and wait for the reception of the RCM.

Because the controller 100 determines that the block stride length inthe ranging block 912 is 1, the controller 100 may skip one rangingblock (e.g., ranging block 913) and perform ranging in the next rangingblock (e.g., the ranging block 914). Also, because the controller 100fails to transmit the RCM in the ranging block 912, the controller 100may determine to perform hopping. The controller 100 may wake up in thehopping round of the ranging block 914 determined based on the blockstride length and transmit an RCM to the controlee 200.

Therefore, the controller 100 and the controlee 200 according to theembodiment of the disclosure may dynamically adjust the ranging periodby using the block striding even when the block duration is not changed.Therefore, because the block duration does not change even when theranging period is changed, the changed ranging period does not affectthe hopping round. Also, even when the ranging period is changed, it isunnecessary to newly calculate the hopping round for each block.Therefore, according to an embodiment of the disclosure, even whenranging fails, the recovery of the ranging timing due to the hopping isquick.

FIG. 10 illustrates a structure of a payload IE including block stridinginformation according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

The controller 100 according to an embodiment of the disclosure maytransmit block striding information to the controlee 200 by using acontent field of a payload IE of an RCM. For example, the controller 100may transmit an MAC frame of a structure illustrated in FIG. 15 to thecontrolee 200 as an RCM. According to the payload IE of the structureillustrated in FIG. 10 , the same stride length may be applied to allcontrolees that perform ranging with the controller 100.

Referring to FIG. 10 , a table 1010 illustrates that the content fieldof the payload IE may include information about a UWB message ID, astride length, a ranging device management list length, and a rangingdevice management list.

The UWB message ID field may indicate type information of a UWB message.For example, the UWB message ID having a value of 0x11 may indicate thatthe corresponding message is control message type 1 associated withranging control.

The stride length field may indicate the number of blocks to be skipped.The stride length field may have a size of 1 byte or 2 bytes. Forexample, when the value of the stride length field is 0, it may indicatethat block striding is not performed.

For example, when the size of the stride length field is 1 byte,28−1=255. Therefore, up to 255 blocks may be skipped. When 255 blocksare skipped, the ranging interval may be about 256*100 ms. Therefore, itmay take about 25.6 seconds for devices to perform ranging once. Asanother example, when the size of the stride length field is 2 bytes,2¹⁶−1=65,535. Therefore, up to 65,535 blocks may be skipped. When 65,535blocks are skipped, the ranging interval may be about 65,536*100 ms.Therefore, it may take about 109.2 minutes for devices to performranging once.

The ranging device management list length field indicates the number ofelements in the ranging device management list field. Each of theelements in the ranging device management list field may includeparameters as illustrated in a table 1020.

The ranging device management list field may include a list of a rangingrole, a ranging slot index, and an address for ranging devices.

The ranging role field may indicate whether the role of the selectedranging device is an initiator or a responder. For example, when thevalue of the ranging role field is 1, the ranging role field mayindicate that the role of the corresponding ranging device is aninitiator. When the value of the ranging role field is 0, the rangingrole field may indicate that the role of the corresponding rangingdevice is a responder.

The ranging slot index field indicates a slot index assigned to a deviceidentified by the address field. The address field indicates each deviceparticipating in ranging.

When a payload IE of a structure illustrated in FIG. 10 is used, thesame stride length may be applied to the controlees that perform rangingwith the controller 100. On the other hand, when a payload IE of astructure illustrated in FIG. 11 is used, different stride lengths maybe applied to the controlees that perform ranging with the controller100. Because the description of the parameters illustrated in FIG. 10may be applied to parameters illustrated in FIG. 11 , redundantdescriptions will be omitted.

FIG. 11 illustrates a structure of a payload IE including block stridinginformation according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 11 , a table 1110 illustrates that the content fieldof the payload IE may include information about a UWB message ID, aranging device management list length, and a ranging device managementlist.

The ranging device management list length field indicates the number ofelements in the ranging device management list field. Each of theelements in the ranging device management list field may includeparameters as illustrated in a table 1120.

The ranging device management list field may include a list of a rangingrole, a ranging slot index, a stride length, and an address for rangingdevices. Therefore, according to the structure illustrated in FIG. 11 ,different stride lengths may be applied to the controlees that performranging.

Hereinafter, an operating method of each of the controller 100 and thecontrolee 200, according to an embodiment of the disclosure, will bedescribed in detail. Because ranging is performed between two electronicdevices, one of the two electronic devices may be a controller and theother may be a controlee. Therefore, in the following description, thecontroller 100 may be referred to as a first device, and the controlee200 may be referred to as a second device. However, the terms “first”and “second” are used to distinguish devices from each other, and theembodiment of the disclosure is not limited to the followingdescription. The controlee 200 may be referred to as a first device, andthe controller 100 may be referred to as a second device.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of an operating method of a firstelectronic device that performs ranging by using UWB communicationaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 12 , in operation S1210, the first electronic deviceaccording to the embodiment of the disclosure may transmit an RCMincluding block striding information to the second electronic device.The first electronic device may transmit an RCM including block stridinginformation to a plurality of electronic devices including the secondelectronic device.

The block striding information may include information about the numberof blocks to be skipped until next ranging is performed. The firstelectronic device according to the embodiment of the disclosure mayadjust a ranging period by changing the number of blocks to be skipped.Because the RCM including the block striding information has beendescribed with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11 , redundant descriptionswill be omitted.

In operation S1220, the first electronic device according to theembodiment of the disclosure may determine whether to perform hoppingbased on a result of transmitting the RCM.

When a message scheduled by the RCM transmitted in operation S1210 isnot received for a certain time, the first electronic device accordingto the embodiment of the disclosure may determine that the transmittingof the RCM failed.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the first electronicdevice may transmit an RCM to a ranging round having a first index valueamong a plurality of ranging rounds included in a first ranging block.When the message scheduled by the RCM is not received during a certainperiod in the ranging round having the first index value in the firstranging block, the first electronic device may determine that thetransmitting of the RCM failed. The first electronic device maydetermine to perform hopping based on the determination that thetransmitting of the RCM failed. The first electronic device according toan embodiment of the disclosure may determine whether all the electronicdevices communicating with the first electronic device for ranging failto receive the RCM. When all the electronic devices including the secondelectronic device fail to receive the RCM, the first electronic devicemay determine not to perform block striding. The first electronic devicemay not perform block striding and may wake up in the hopping round ofthe very next ranging block and retransmit the RCM. On the other hand,when all the electronic devices do not fail to receive the RCM (that is,when the second electronic device fails to receive the RCM and at leastone electronic device except for the second electronic device succeedsin receiving the RCM), the first electronic device according to anembodiment of the disclosure may determine to perform block striding.When the first electron device determines to perform block striding, thefirst electronic device may perform operation S1230.

In operation S1230, the first electronic device according to theembodiment of the disclosure may determine a hopping round value basedon a result of determining whether to perform the hopping and blockstriding information.

When the first electronic device determines to perform the hopping, thefirst electronic device may determine a hopping round value based on theblock striding information.

The first electronic device according to the embodiment of thedisclosure may determine an index value of a second ranging block toperform next ranging, based on the block striding information. When anindex value of a current ranging block is N (N is an integer greaterthan or equal to 0) and the first electronic device determines to skip nblocks (n is an integer greater than or equal to 0), the firstelectronic device may determine N+n+1 as the index value of the secondranging block.

The first electronic device may determine a hopping round value based onthe index value of the second ranging block. The first electronic devicemay determine the hopping round value by taking into account a resultvalue of a random number generation function calculated based on theindex value of the second ranging block and a hopping key value for aranging session. When initiating a ranging session with the secondelectronic device, the first electronic device may share the hopping keywith the second electronic device.

In operation S1240, the first electronic device according to theembodiment of the disclosure may perform ranging with the secondelectronic device based on the block striding information and thehopping round value.

The first electronic device may perform ranging in the second ranginground corresponding to the hopping round value determined in operationS1230 among a plurality of ranging rounds included in the second rangingblock determined based on the block striding information. When the firstelectronic device determines to skip n blocks (n is an integer greaterthan or equal to 0), the first electronic device may skip next n blocksof the first ranging block and perform the ranging operation in an(n+1)th ranging block. After transmitting the RCM in operation S1210,the first electronic device may perform the ranging operation after1+n*(block duration).

On the other hand, returning to operation S1220, when the messagescheduled by the RCM transmitted in operation S1210 is received within acertain time, the first electronic device according to the embodiment ofthe disclosure determines that the transmitting of the RCM wassuccessful. When the first electronic device determines that thetransmitting of the RCM was successful, the first electronic device maydetermine not to perform hopping. The first electronic device maydetermine the index value of the second ranging block to performranging, based on the block striding information. Because the firstelectronic device has determined not to perform hopping, the firstelectronic device may perform ranging in the ranging round having thefirst index value, which has been previously used, among a plurality ofranging rounds included in the second ranging block.

Also, the first electronic device according to the embodiment of thedisclosure may transmit, to a third device, an RCM including secondblock striding information that is different from the block stridinginformation for the second electronic device. The first electronicdevice may perform ranging with the third device based on the secondblock striding information. For example, the first electronic device maydetermine to skip n blocks (n is an integer greater than or equal to 0)in the ranging with the second electronic device and may determine toskip m blocks (m is an integer greater than or equal to 0) in theranging with the third device. In order to apply different stridelengths to devices performing ranging, the payload IE of the structureillustrated in FIG. 11 may be used.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flowchart of an operating method of a secondelectronic device that performs ranging by using UWB communicationaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 13 , in operation S1310, the second electronic deviceaccording to the embodiment of the disclosure may determine whether toperform hopping based on a result of receiving a first RCM from thefirst electronic device.

When the first RCM is not received during a certain period in a ranginground having a first index value among a plurality of ranging roundsincluded in a first ranging block, the second electronic deviceaccording to the embodiment of the disclosure may determine that thereceiving of the first RCM failed. The second electronic device maydetermine to perform hopping based on the determination that thereceiving of the first RCM failed.

In operation S1320, the second electronic device according to theembodiment of the disclosure may determine a hopping round value basedon a result of determining whether to perform hopping.

When the second electronic device determines to perform the hopping, thesecond electronic device may determine the index value of the secondranging block to perform ranging. The second electronic device maydetermine a hopping round value based on the index value of the secondranging block.

As an example, when an index value of a current ranging block is N (N isan integer greater than or equal to 0) and a previously negotiated blockstride length is 0, the second electronic device may determine N+1 asthe index value of the second ranging block. As an example, when theindex value of the current ranging block is N and the previouslynegotiated block stride length is 0, the second electronic device maydetermine N+n+1 as the index value of the second ranging block.

The second electronic device may determine a hopping round value basedon the index value of the second ranging block. The second electronicdevice may determine the hopping round value by taking into account aresult value of a random number generation function calculated based onthe index value of the second ranging block and a hopping key value fora ranging session. When initiating a ranging session with the secondelectronic device, the second electronic device may receive the hoppingkey from the first electronic device.

When the RCM is not received in the ranging round determined by thehopping, the second electronic device according to the embodiment of thedisclosure may repeatedly perform operations S1310 and S1320.

In operation S1330, the second electronic device according to theembodiment of the disclosure may receive a second RCM from the firstelectronic device based on the hopping round value. The secondelectronic device may receive the second RCM in the second ranging roundcorresponding to the hopping round value among the ranging roundsincluded in the second ranging block.

In operation S1340, the second electronic device according to theembodiment of the disclosure may perform ranging with the firstelectronic device based on block striding information included in thesecond RCM.

The block striding information may include information about the numberof blocks to be skipped. The second electronic device according to theembodiment of the disclosure may adjust a ranging period by changing thenumber of blocks to be skipped. Because the RCM including the blockstriding information has been described with reference to FIGS. 10 and11 , redundant descriptions will be omitted.

The second electronic device may determine the index value of the thirdranging block to perform ranging, based on the block stridinginformation. In operation S1330, when the index value of the secondranging block that has received the second RCM is N (N is an integergreater than or equal to 0) and information indicating that the numberof blocks to be skipped is n is included in the second RCM, the secondelectronic device may determine N+n+1 as the index value of the thirdranging block.

The second electronic device may perform ranging in the third ranginground corresponding to the hopping round value determined in operationS1320 among a plurality of ranging rounds included in the third rangingblock.

Returning to operation S1310, when the first RCM is received in theranging round having the first index value among the ranging roundsincluded in the first ranging block, the second electronic deviceaccording to the embodiment of the disclosure may determine thatreceiving of the first RCM was successful and may determine not toperform hopping. The second electronic device may determine the indexvalue of the second ranging block to perform ranging. The secondelectronic device may perform ranging in the ranging round having thefirst index value among the ranging rounds included in the secondranging block.

As described above, according to an embodiment of the disclosure, theelectronic devices may adjust the ranging period by using blockstriding, such that recovery using a hopping mode is possible uponranging failure.

Also, according to the existing method of adjusting the ranging periodby changing the ranging block duration, a process of re-matching theranging timing by restoring the changed ranging block duration to theoriginal block duration when the ranging between the electronic devicesfailed. However, the method of recovering from the ranging failure byrestoring the changed ranging block duration to the original blockduration was able to be used only when the controller performs rangingwith one controlee. On the other hand, according to an embodiment of thedisclosure, even when the controller performs ranging with a pluralityof controlees, it is possible to recover from the ranging failure andrelatively quick recovery is possible.

Also, when the hopping round for each ranging block is calculated inadvance, the hopping round is not affected even when the ranging periodis adjusted by using the block striding. Therefore, it is unnecessary tonewly calculate the hopping round. Also, the controller according to theembodiment of the disclosure may change the ranging period differentlywith respect to each controlee.

FIG. 14 illustrates a signal flow diagram of a method of performingranging according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 14illustrates an example in which the controller 100 serves as aninitiator.

Referring to FIG. 14 , in operation S1410, the controller 100 accordingto the embodiment of the disclosure may transmit a control message type1 of an SP0 packet format to the controlee 200. The controller 100according to the embodiment of the disclosure may transmit a MAC frameof a structure illustrated in FIG. 15 to the controlee 200 as an RCM.

In operation S1420, the controller 100 according to the embodiment ofthe disclosure may transmit a ranging initiation message of an SP3packet format to the controlee 200. In operation S1430, the controlee200 according to the embodiment of the disclosure may transmit a rangingresponse message of the SP3 packet format to the controller 100. Inoperation S1440, the controller 100 according to the embodiment of thedisclosure may transmit a ranging final message of an SP3 packet formatto the controlee 200.

In operation S1450, the controller 100 according to the embodiment ofthe disclosure may transmit a measurement report message type 1 of theSP0 packet format to the controlee 200. In operation S1460, thecontrolee 200 according to the embodiment of the disclosure may transmita ranging result report message type 1 of the SP0 packet format to thecontroller 100. The measurement report message type 1 may includeinformation about a measurement value (e.g., round-trip time, replytime, etc.) used to calculate time of flight (ToF). The ToF that iscalculated by using the received information may be carried in asubsequent ranging result report message type 1.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a structure of an MAC frame accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 17 illustrates a frame control field of an MAC frame according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 18 illustrates an auxiliary security header field of an MAC frameaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 15 , the controller 100 according to the embodiment ofthe disclosure may transmit an MAC frame of a structure illustrated inFIG. 15 to the controlee 200 as an RCM.

Referring to FIG. 17 , a frame control field indicates format andsetting of the frame. For example, the frame control field may have aformat illustrated in FIG. 17 .

A sequence number field specifies a sequence identifier for the frame. Adestination PAN ID field, when present, is an unsigned integer thatspecifies the unique PAN ID of the intended recipient of the frame.

A destination address field, when present, has a length specified in adestination addressing mode field of the frame control field andspecifies the address of the intended recipient of the frame.

Referring to FIG. 18 , a source PAN ID field, when present, specifiesthe unique PAN ID of the originator of the frame. A source addressfield, when present, specifies the address of the originator of theframe. An auxiliary security header field specifies information requiredfor security processing. For example, the frame control field may have aformat illustrated in FIG. 18 .

A vendor specific header IE indicated as header IEs in FIG. 15 isreserved for the use of other protocols and/or data relevant only tocertain implementations. A vendor specific nested IE indicated aspayload IEs in FIG. 15 is reserved for the use of other protocols and/ordata relevant only to certain implementations The vendor specific headerIE and the vendor specific nested ID will be described below in moredetail with reference to FIG. 16 .

FIG. 16 illustrates parameters included in a header IE and a payload IEaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 16 , a header IE format according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure is illustrated in a table 1610. The header IE may includelength information, element ID information, type information, andcontent information.

The length field indicates the size of the content field. The element IDfield indicates type information of the element. For example, theelement ID having a value of 0 may indicate that the element is a vendorspecific header IE. The type field indicates element type information.For example, the type field having a value of 0 may indicate that theelement is the header IE. The content field may include informationabout the content of the UWB message.

The payload IE format according to an embodiment of the disclosure isillustrated in a table 1620. The payload IE may include lengthinformation, group ID information, type information, and contentinformation.

The length field indicates the size of the content field. The group IDfield indicates type information of the group. For example, the group IDfield having a value of 2 may indicate that the group is a vendorspecific nested IE. The type field indicates element type information.For example, the type field having a value of 1 may indicate that theelement is the payload IE. The content field may include informationabout the content of the UWB message.

FIG. 19 illustrates a block diagram of a controller according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

The controller 100 according to various embodiments of the disclosuremay be a fixed terminal or a mobile terminal. The controller 100 may be,for example, at least one of a smart phone, a navigation, a computer, adigital broadcasting terminal, a smart home appliance, an artificialintelligence speaker, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portablemedia player (PMP), a smart key, or a wearable device. The controller100 may communicate with other devices and/or servers through a networkby using a wireless or wired communication scheme.

Referring to FIG. 19 , the controller 100 according to variousembodiments of the disclosure may include a communicator 110, aprocessor 120, and a memory 130. However, the controller 100 may includemore elements or fewer elements than those illustrated in FIG. 19 .

In FIG. 19 , the controller 100 is illustrated as including oneprocessor, but the embodiment of the disclosure is not limited thereto.The controller 100 may include a plurality of processors. Hereinafter,at least part of the operations and functions of the processor 120 maybe performed by a plurality of processors. The controller 100illustrated in FIG. 19 may perform the operating method of thecontroller 100 according to various embodiments of the disclosure, andthe descriptions of FIGS. 1 to 18 may be applied. Therefore, adescription redundant to those provided above will be omitted.

The communicator 110 according to the embodiment of the disclosure mayperform wired or wireless communication with other devices and/ornetworks. To this end, the communicator 110 may include a communicationmodule supporting at least one of various wired and wirelesscommunication methods. For example, the communication module may be inthe form of a chipset, or may be a sticker or a bar code includinginformation necessary for communication (e.g., a sticker including anear field communication (NFC) tag).

The wireless communication may include, for example, at least one ofcellular communication, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), Wi-Fi Direct,Bluetooth, UWB, or NFC. The wired communication may include, forexample, at least one of universal serial bus (USB) or high definitionmultimedia interface (HDMI).

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the communicator 110 may include acommunication module for short-range communication. For example, thecommunicator 110 may include a communication module for performing, inaddition to UWB, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, and NFC, variousshort-range communication such as infrared communication, magneticsecure transmission (MST), and magnetic security communication.

The communicator 110 according to the embodiment of the disclosure maycommunicate with the controlee 200 by using a first communication schemeor a second communication scheme. For example, the second communicationscheme may be a UWB communication scheme, and the first communicationscheme may be a communication scheme that is different from the secondcommunication scheme. For example, the first communication scheme may bea Bluetooth communication scheme, but is not limited thereto.

The processor 120 according to the embodiment of the disclosure maycontrol overall operations of the controller 100 by executing programsstored in the memory 130 and may include at least one processor such asa central processing unit (CPU) or a graphics processing unit (GPU). Theprocessor 120 may control other elements included in the controller 100so as to perform UWB ranging.

The description of FIG. 12 may be applied to a specific method,performed by the processor 120, of performing ranging by controllingoverall operations of the controller 100, and redundant descriptionswill be omitted.

The processor 120 according to the embodiment of the disclosure maytransmit an RCM including block striding information to the controlee200 through the communicator 110. The block striding information mayinclude information about the number of blocks to be skipped. Theprocessor 120 according to the embodiment of the disclosure may adjust aranging period between the controller 100 and the controlee 200 bychanging the number of blocks to be skipped. Because the RCM includingthe block striding information has been described with reference toFIGS. 10 and 11 , redundant descriptions will be omitted.

The processor 120 according to the embodiment of the disclosure maydetermine whether to perform hopping based on a result of transmittingthe RCM.

As an example, when a message scheduled by the transmitted RCM is notreceived for a certain time, the processor 120 may determine thattransmitting of the RCM failed. For example, when the message scheduledby the RCM is not received during a certain period in a ranging roundhaving a first index value in a first ranging block, the processor 120may determine that the transmitting of the RCM failed. The processor 120may determine to perform hopping based on the determination that thetransmitting of the RCM failed.

As another example, when a message scheduled by the transmitted RCM isnot received within a certain time, the processor 120 may determine thatthe transmitting of the RCM was successful. When the processor 120determines that the transmitting of the RCM was successful, theprocessor 120 may determine not to perform hopping. The processor 120may determine the index value of the second ranging block to performranging, based on the block striding information. Because the processor120 has determined not to perform hopping, the processor 120 may performranging in the ranging round having the first index value among aplurality of ranging rounds included in the second ranging block. Theprocessor 120 according to an embodiment of the disclosure may determinewhether all the controlees communicating with the controller 100 forranging fail to receive the RCM. When all the controlees fail to receivethe RCM, the processor 120 may determine not to perform block striding.The processor 120 may not perform block striding and may wake up in thehopping round of the very next ranging block and retransmit the RCM. Onthe other hand, when all the controlees do not fail to receive the RCM(that is, when the controlee 200 fails to receive the RCM and at leastone controlee except for the controlee 200 succeeds in receiving theRCM), the processor 120 according to an embodiment of the disclosure maydetermine to perform block striding. When the processor 120 determinesto perform block striding, the processor 120 may perform operation thefollowing operations.

The processor 120 according to the embodiment of the disclosure maydetermine a hopping round value based on a result of determining whetherto perform the hopping and block striding information. When theprocessor 120 determines to perform the hopping, the processor 120 maydetermine a hopping round value based on the block striding information.The processor 120 according to the embodiment of the disclosure maydetermine the index value of the second ranging block to performranging, based on the block striding information. When an index value ofa current first ranging block is N (N is an integer greater than orequal to 0) and the processor 120 determines to skip n blocks (n is aninteger greater than or equal to 0), the processor 120 may determineN+n+1 as the index value of the second ranging block. The processor 120may determine a hopping round value based on the index value of thesecond ranging block.

For example, the processor 120 may determine the hopping round value bytaking into account a result value of a random number generationfunction calculated based on the index value of the second ranging blockand a hopping key value for a ranging session. When initiating a rangingsession with the controlee 200, the processor 120 may share the hoppingkey with the controlee 200.

The processor 120 according to the embodiment of the disclosure mayperform ranging with the controlee 200 based on the block stridinginformation and the hopping round value. The processor 120 may performranging in the second ranging round corresponding to the hopping roundvalue among the ranging rounds included in the second ranging blockdetermined based on the block striding information. When the processor120 determines to skip n blocks (n is an integer greater than or equalto 0), the processor 120 may skip next n blocks of the first rangingblock and perform the ranging operation in an (n+1)th ranging block.After transmitting the RCM in the first ranging block, the processor 120may perform the ranging operation after 1+n*(block duration).

Also, the processor 120 according to the embodiment of the disclosuremay transmit, to a third device, an RCM including second block stridinginformation that is different from the block striding information forthe controlee 200. The processor 120 may perform ranging with the thirddevice based on the second block striding information. In order to applydifferent stride lengths to devices performing ranging, the payload IEof the structure illustrated in FIG. 11 may be used.

FIG. 20 illustrates a block diagram of a controlee according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

The controlee 200 according to various embodiments of the disclosure maybe a fixed terminal or a mobile terminal. The controlee 200 may be, forexample, at least one of a smart phone, a navigation, a computer, adigital broadcasting terminal, a smart home appliance, an artificialintelligence speaker, a PDA, a PMP, a smart key, or a wearable device.The controlee 200 may communicate with other devices and/or serversthrough a network by using a wireless or wired communication scheme.

Referring to FIG. 20 , the controlee 200 according to variousembodiments of the disclosure may include a communicator 210, aprocessor 220, and a memory 230. However, the controlee 200 may includemore elements or fewer elements than those illustrated in FIG. 20 .

In FIG. 20 , the controlee 200 is illustrated as including oneprocessor, but the embodiment of the disclosure is not limited thereto.The controlee 200 may include a plurality of processors. Hereinafter, atleast part of the operations and functions of the processor 220 may beperformed by a plurality of processors. The controlee 200 illustrated inFIG. 20 may perform the operating method according to variousembodiments of the disclosure, and the descriptions of FIGS. 1 to 18 maybe applied. Therefore, a description redundant to those provided abovewill be omitted.

The communicator 210 according to the embodiment of the disclosure mayperform wired or wireless communication with other devices or networks.To this end, the communicator 210 may include a communication modulesupporting at least one of various wired and wireless communicationmethods. For example, the communication module may be in the form of achipset, or may be a sticker or a bar code including informationnecessary for communication (e.g., a sticker including an NFC tag).

The wireless communication may include, for example, at least one ofcellular communication, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, UWB, or NFC. Thewired communication may include, for example, at least one of USB orHDMI.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the communicator 210 may include acommunication module for short-range communication. For example, thecommunicator 210 may include a communication module for performing, inaddition to UWB, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, and NFC, variousshort-range communication such as infrared communication, MST, andmagnetic security communication.

The communicator 210 according to the embodiment of the disclosure maycommunicate with the controller 100 by using a first communicationscheme or a second communication scheme. For example, the secondcommunication scheme may be a UWB communication scheme, and the firstcommunication scheme may be a communication scheme that is differentfrom the second communication scheme. For example, the firstcommunication scheme may be a Bluetooth communication scheme, but is notlimited thereto.

The processor 220 according to the embodiment of the disclosure maycontrol overall operations of the controlee 200 by executing programsstored in the memory 230 and may include at least one processor such asa CPU or a GPU. The processor 220 may control other elements included inthe controlee 200 so as to perform UWB ranging. The description of FIG.13 may be applied to a specific method, performed by the processor 220,of performing ranging by controlling overall operations of the controlee200, and redundant descriptions will be omitted.

The processor 220 according to the embodiment of the disclosure maydetermine whether to perform hopping based on a result of receiving afirst RCM from the controller 100.

When the first RCM is not received during a certain period in a ranginground having a first index value among a plurality of ranging roundsincluded in a first ranging block, the processor 220 may determine thatthe receiving of the first RCM failed. The processor 220 may determineto perform hopping based on the determination that the receiving of thefirst RCM failed.

As another example, when the first RCM is received in the ranging roundhaving the first index value among the ranging rounds included in thefirst ranging block, the processor 220 may determine that the receivingof the first RCM was successful and may determine not to performhopping. The processor 220 may determine the index value of the secondranging block to perform ranging. The processor 220 may perform rangingin the ranging round having the first index value among the rangingrounds included in the second ranging block.

The processor 220 according to the embodiment of the disclosure maydetermine a hopping round value based on a result of determining whetherto perform the hopping.

When the processor 220 determines to perform the hopping, the processor220 may determine the index value of the second ranging block to performranging. As an example, when an index value of a current ranging blockis N (N is an integer greater than or equal to 0) and a previouslynegotiated block stride length is 0, the processor 220 may determine N+1as the index value of the second ranging block. As an example, when theindex value of the current ranging block is N and the previouslynegotiated block stride length is 0, the processor 220 may determineN+n+1 as the index value of the second ranging block.

The processor 220 may determine a hopping round value based on the indexvalue of the second ranging block. The processor 220 may determine thehopping round value by taking into account a result value of a randomnumber generation function calculated based on the index value of thesecond ranging block and a hopping key value for a ranging session. Wheninitiating a ranging session with the controlee 200, the processor 220may receive the hopping key from the controller 100.

The processor 220 according to the embodiment of the disclosure mayreceive a second RCM from the controller 100 based on the hopping roundvalue. The processor 220 may receive the second RCM in the secondranging round corresponding to the hopping round value among the rangingrounds included in the second ranging block.

The processor 220 according to the embodiment of the disclosure mayperform ranging with the controller 100 based on block stridinginformation included in the second RCM.

The block striding information may include information about the numberof blocks to be skipped. The processor 220 according to the embodimentof the disclosure may adjust a ranging period by changing the number ofblocks to be skipped. Because the RCM including the block stridinginformation has been described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11 ,redundant descriptions will be omitted.

The processor 220 may determine an index value of a third ranging blockto perform ranging, based on the block striding information. When theindex value of the second ranging block that has received the second RCMis N (N is an integer greater than or equal to 0) and informationindicating that the number of blocks to be skipped is n is included inthe second RCM, the processor 220 may determine N+n+1 as the index valueof the third ranging block.

The processor 220 may perform ranging in the third ranging round amongthe ranging rounds included in the third ranging block. The index valueof the third ranging round may be the same as the index value of thesecond ranging round in which the processor 220 receives the second RCM.When the processor 220 according to the embodiment of the disclosuredetermines that the second RCM was completely received, the processor220 may stop hopping and repeatedly perform ranging in the ranging roundhaving the same index value as the second ranging round in which thesecond RCM was received.

The embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented as a softwareprogram that includes instructions stored in a computer-readable storagemedium.

The computer is a device capable of calling the stored instructions fromthe storage medium and performing the operations of the embodiment ofthe disclosure according to the called instructions. The computer mayinclude an image transmitting apparatus and an image receiving apparatusaccording to the embodiments of the disclosure.

The computer-readable storage medium may be provided in the form of anon-transitory storage medium. The term “non-transitory” means that thestorage medium does not include a signal and is tangible, and does notlimit that data is stored in the storage medium semi-permanently ortemporarily.

Also, the electronic devices or the methods according to the embodimentsof the disclosure may be provided in a state of being included in acomputer program product. The computer program product may be tradedbetween a seller and a buyer as a product.

The computer program product may include a software program and acomputer-readable storage medium on which the software program isstored. For example, the computer program product may include a product(e.g., downloadable app) of a software program form that is distributedelectronically through an electronic device manufacturer or anelectronic market (e.g., Google Play Store, App Store, etc.). Forelectronic distribution, at least part of the software program may bestored in a storage medium or may be temporarily generated. In thiscase, the storage medium may be a server of a manufacturer, a server ofan electronic market, or a storage medium of a relay server temporarilystoring a software program.

In a system including a server and a terminal (e.g., an imagetransmitting apparatus or an image receiving apparatus), the computerprogram product may include a storage medium of the server or a storagemedium of the terminal. Alternatively, when a third device (e.g., asmart phone) communicatively connected to a server or a terminal ispresent, the computer program product may include a storage medium ofthe third device. Alternatively, the computer program product mayinclude a software program itself that is transmitted from the server tothe terminal or the third device or is transmitted from the third deviceto the terminal.

In this case, one of the server, the terminal, and the third device mayexecute the computer program product to perform the methods according tothe embodiments of the disclosure. Alternatively, two or more of theserver, the terminal, and the third device may execute the computerprogram product to perform the methods according to the embodiments ofthe disclosure in a distributed manner.

For example, the server (e.g., a cloud server or an artificialintelligence server, etc.) may execute the computer program productstored in the server to control the terminal communicatively connectedto the server to perform the methods according to the embodiments of thedisclosure.

As another example, the third device may execute the computer programproduct to control the terminal communicatively connected to the thirddevice to perform the methods according to the embodiments of thedisclosure. As a specific example, the third device may remotely controlan image transmitting apparatus or an image receiving apparatus totransmit or receive a packing image.

When the third device executes the computer program product, the thirddevice may download the computer program product from the server andexecute the downloaded computer program product. Alternatively, thethird device may execute the computer program product provided in apreloaded state to execute the methods according to the embodiments ofthe disclosure.

While the disclosure has been shown and described with reference tovarious embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled inthe art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as definedby the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An operating method of a first electronic devicefor performing ranging by using ultra wide band (UWB) communication, theoperating method comprising: transmitting, to a second electronicdevice, a ranging control message including block striding informationindicating a number of ranging blocks to be skipped, in a first rangingblock; identifying an index value of a second ranging block to performranging with the second electronic device based on the block stridinginformation and an index value of the first ranging block; andperforming the ranging with the second electronic device in the secondranging block based on the index value of the second ranging block. 2.The operating method of claim 1, further comprising: in case that thenumber of ranging blocks to be skipped is not zero, skipping the rangingat least one ranging block according to the number of ranging blocks tobe skipped.
 3. The operating method of claim 1, wherein the index valueof the first ranging block is N, the N being an integer greater than orequal to 0, and a block stride length is n, the n being an integergreater than or equal to 0, the identified index value of the secondranging block is determined as N+n+1.
 4. The operating method of claim1, wherein, in case that the number of ranging blocks to be skipped iszero, no ranging block is skipped.
 5. The operating method of claim 1,wherein the transmitting of the ranging control message comprisestransmitting the ranging control message in a ranging round having afirst index value among a plurality of ranging rounds included in thefirst ranging block.
 6. An operating method of a second electronicdevice for performing ranging by using ultra wide band (UWB)communication, the operating method comprising: receiving, from a firstelectronic device, a ranging control message including block stridinginformation indicating a number of ranging blocks to be skipped, in afirst ranging block; identifying an index value of a second rangingblock to perform ranging with the first electronic device based on theblock striding information and an index value of the first rangingblock; and performing the ranging with the first electronic device inthe second ranging block based on the index value of the second rangingblock.
 7. The operating method of claim 6, further comprising: in casethat the number of ranging blocks to be skipped is not zero, skippingthe ranging at least one ranging block according to the number ofranging blocks to be skipped.
 8. The operating method of claim 6,wherein the index value of the first ranging block is N, the N being aninteger greater than or equal to 0, and a block stride length is n, then being an integer greater than or equal to 0, the identified indexvalue of the second ranging block is determined as N+n+1.
 9. Theoperating method of claim 6, wherein, in case that the number of rangingblocks to be skipped is zero, no ranging block is skipped.
 10. Theoperating method of claim 6, wherein the receiving of the rangingcontrol message comprises receiving the ranging control message in aranging round having a first index value among a plurality of rangingrounds included in the first ranging block.
 11. A first electronicdevice for performing ranging by using ultra wide band (UWB)communication, the first electronic device comprising: a transceiver; amemory; and at least one processor configured to execute a programstored in the memory to control the first electronic device to:transmit, to a second electronic device, a ranging control messageincluding block striding information indicating a number of rangingblocks to be skipped, in a first ranging block; identify an index valueof a second ranging block to perform ranging with the second electronicdevice based on the block striding information and an index value of thefirst ranging block; and perform the ranging with the second electronicdevice in the second ranging block based on the index value of thesecond ranging block.
 12. A second electronic device for performingranging by using ultra wide band (UWB) communication, the secondelectronic device comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and at least oneprocessor configured to execute a program stored in the memory tocontrol the second electronic device to: receive, from a firstelectronic device, a ranging control message including block stridinginformation indicating a number of ranging blocks to be skipped, in afirst ranging block; identify an index value of a second ranging blockto perform ranging with the first electronic device based on the blockstriding information and an index value of the first ranging block; andperform the ranging with the first electronic device in the secondranging block based on the index value of the second ranging block.